Jimmy King, project manager for Wireless Genesee, says the movement to bring county-wide, free, wireless Internet access is a step toward bridging a technological divide and bringing new business to the community.
In his efforts to move the project forward, King has visited 21 school districts, 17 townships, 11 cities and three villages? including Atlas Township, the Village of Goodrich and Goodrich Area Schools? asking they draft a letter in support of the wireless initiative.
While the village reviews the proposal, the school district has drafted a letter of support of the initiative.
‘It sounds like a good concept even though I don’t know the specifics of it, ? said Goodrich superintendent Kimberly Hart. ‘Anytime you can provide free access to the Internet to the public in this day and age so everyone has the same opportunities, we’re all the better for it.?
Atlas Township Supervisor Paul Amman says he is unsure if the township will take action one way or the other in the matter.
King says he has met with little resistance from any of the communities he has visited.
If successful, Wireless Genesee would get an independent service provider to provide wireless Internet access to 642 square miles of Genesee County on their lowest level of bandwidth. That low bandwidth would be slow, explained King, but it would be adequate enough to allow access. The Internet provider would in turn profit when people decide to upgrade to a higher level bandwidth for private use.
The project came together in part, says King, when an increasing number of businesses expressed their disinterest in moving to a community without wireless capabilities. Additionally, King says the issue of a ‘digital divide? became increasingly evident.
Because the area south of I-69 has more business and industry, King says that adoption of wireless technology in those areas was almost inevitable.
However, things didn’t bode as well in his scenario for areas to the north.
‘Everything north of I-69? because it’s rural and lower income? might never have an opportunity to go wireless,? says King. Those in the Wireless Genesee program want to make this happen for all and give everyone an opportunity for access, added King.
Wireless Genesee was modeled on a similar initiative in Oakland County with Wireless Oakland.
Scott Oppmann, manager of application services for Wireless Oakland, says the reasoning behind the Wireless Oakland initiative was similar to that of Wireless Genesee.
‘I think the big thing is in Oakland, we feel very strongly that access to the Internet is a necessity,? says Oppman. A digital divide, similar to the one described by King, was identified in Oakland County, explained Oppman. ‘Those with a high school diploma or less, individuals older than 65, and those with a family income $30,000 or less a year? that constitutes the digital divide,? said Oppman.
Some places in Goodrich, such as the Goodrich Library, 10237 Hegel Road, are already wireless. The library has offered wireless Internet access since around the first of the year.
‘We had patrons coming asking for it, wanting to use it, ‘said Ronnie Morgan, information technology department head Genesee District Library.
‘We’ve had nothing but good comments from the patrons about it,? said Morgan.
Morgan said bandwidth is limited, but speed is still fast enough that people seem satisfied with the service.
Overall, Morgan said he hasn’t seen many problems with wireless in the library. ‘It’s gone really, really well considering the number of connections we have for it.?